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The Narcotic of Minor Celebrity

Last year I started showing up at Dissident Right events, as well as trying to interact with some of the figures on-line. The main reason was to meet some of the leaders and see them in a social environment. The impression you get of people from television or from their internet activity is always much different than their real life personality. I figured if I was getting quoted and linked to by people in this thing, I should meet them and get to know them. A funny thing that happened is people at these events wanted to meet me.

Now, I’m no rock star so it’s not as if people are chasing me down the street looking for a selfie or autograph. Even so, it is flattering to have someone walk up to you and thank you for your efforts. I was approached at a bagel shop recently by someone who recognized my voice and decided to see if I was the man behind the podcast voice. I’m not very good at handling these encounters. I usually resort to false modesty, as I don’t have a lot of experience with it. I also have no great desire to be famous, but I get the attraction of it.

Now, there are very famous people, who are very good at being famous. They enjoy it and they know how to handling it. I once saw a famous guy do selfies for fans, while carrying on a conversation with a friend. My guess is the truly famous, the people most everyone recognizes, look at celebrity in the same way that most of us look at filling out a time sheet or an expense report. It’s just a part of the job and they treat it as such. Those fans asking for selfies have no impact on their ego, because they are just part of the scenery.

On the other hand, minor celebrities seem to be possessed with a desire to be famous and the fans that approach them or follow them on-line are how they keep score. A guy like Milo is a good example. His glib homosexual routine was a good compliment to his writing at Brietbart, but then he got a little famous. The desire to see himself on TV and internet had him doing increasingly nutty things to get attention. I’ve never been a Milo fan, but people tell me has real talent, but it has come to a sad end for him.

Milo’s story arc is a familiar one, but the proliferation of social media has brought a new version of this, the e-celeb. Mike Cernovich is probably the best example. He has no real talent for anything, as far as anyone knows, but he is good at getting attention on social media. One of the things you can’t help but notice if you pay attention to him is how much he obsesses over his follower count and impressions on twitter. Followers and friends is the coin of the realm, so all of the internet celebrities focus on growing those numbers.

This lust for recognition is certainly at the root of the endless in-fighting we see among the alt-right personalities. An alt-right person gets some traffic to their YouTube channel and before long they are picking fights with everyone they used to call allies. Because the drama results in more traffic, it becomes a feedback loop. The traffic releases endorphins in the brain of the e-celeb. It’s like crystal meth for these guys. Each hit increases their craving for the next hit. Eventually the drama blows up into nasty feuds and vendettas.

Another side of this is the leaders are picked from the pool of people desperate for attention. Some glib or photogenic person pops up on social media and they attract a crowd. Before long, the other e-celebs are inviting them on their platforms to get some second hand traffic. The result is the influential people are being selected for their vanity and lust for celebrity, rather than intelligence or mental stability. That’s why more than a few wackos have streaked across the alt-right sky over the last couple of years.

It’s possible that this is something that benefits the alt-right in the long run. The dominant media has a filtering mechanism to make sure no one with unclean thoughts ever gets access to their platforms. The result is they select for dullness and obtuseness. The breathtaking lack of self-awareness scares off more people than it convinces. The people who survive the e-celeb gauntlet, or avoid it entirely, to establish themselves as trusted voices in the alt-right, could turn out to be much more shrewd and savvy as a result of it.

A guy like Nick Fuentes is a good example. He has a creepy maturity to him that has gained him a lot of attention. He’s like Bill Mitchell in a child’s body. He’s an alt-right version of the movie Big. While he does a fine job on his YouTube shows, he often goes onto social media and posts stupid and childish things. People who talk about their IQ on social media tend to be mentally unstable. On the other hand, Fuentes is a kid so maybe he figures it out and gets better. In ten years he could be the Ted Baxter of the alt-right.

That said, it could be that new media and social media have evolved in a way that allows the people in charge to keep challengers out on the fringe. Instead of smart subversives quietly doing what it takes to weasel into the orthodoxy, they are having purse fights with e-celebs and disqualifying themselves in the process. Since your internet activity is now part of your permanent record, all those youthful mistakes will later be used against you as an adult. In other words, YouTube is a favela for political and cultural dissidents

Have you seen Vox Day going nuclear on Jordan Peterson lately? Something very strange about it. What’s your take?

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1 year ago

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Dave

I’ve seen that as well. Jordan had his time in the spotlight over the past year, but his star is now starting to fade. Vox has latched onto some inconsistencies in Jordan’s worldview and is going absolutely ballistic. Vox is a really odd figure on the dissident right. He is bright, but deeply impressed with himself in a very narcissistic, egotistical way, and never hesitates to scream about his IQ and supposed debating skills. He lives in Italy, despite not being Italian, and never tells anyone why he made this significant move with his family. He hits most of the… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Kapper

I don’t know how many Z Blog readers remember Larry Auster of View From The Right, but Vox Day sure reminds me of Larry. Very relentless when on the attack.

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1 year ago

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Wilburn Sprayberry

I corresponded a bit with Auster, years before he took sick and died from a sudden onset cancer. His monograph, “The Path To National Suicide” helped clarify my visceral rage against non-white immigration into more coherent thoughts (though leaving the rage intact). He was a key figure in the 90s, who spoke at the first American Renaissance conference (if I recall correctly), to whom both Derbyshire and Brimelow have paid tribute. He was also insufferably touchy and…relentless (as you say), though that’s also too nice a word.

Oh…wait a sec…you already know that. So….yeah, I remember him! 🙂

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1 year ago

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Sam

Eh, I don’t think he’s strange at all. He’s the stereotypical bully, covering up for his insecurities by bragging how he’s tougher/smarter than everyone else, likely rooted in some anxiety issues. He is very intelligent, and you see it when he’s analyzing something outside himself (e.g. literature). But talk about anything that remotely touches on his own status, and he utterly flies off the handle, and you see insecurity and immaturity. He sees Peterson getting all this attention, while his own star, and those of his confreres Cernovich and Milo is kind of flat or dimming, and so he goes… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Dave

Agree. There’s quite a bit of projection going on in the way he gets hyper defensive about the slightest criticism and yet relentlessly criticizes everyone and anything on the slightest pretext.
He’s really yearning for some acknowledgement from someone of Peterson’s stature, and surely won’t get it as Jordan has better things to do.
Vox is the embodiment of the gamma male archetype he always refers to when attacking guys who won’t give him the time of day.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Eh, Vox is a fervent Christian convert and this colors every single thing he does, knowingly or unknowingly He and the rest of the Deus Volt crowd have no mental map of the West that doesn’t involve Christianity and people like Peterson who are culturally somewhat Christian but promote a gnostic (self understanding) path tend to cause the same freak out the Catholics had with Gnosticism They can’t cope with the fact that while its possible to make the West White again you can’t make the society suddenly religious again and while the devout seem to be well more devout,… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Eddie

I’m a little skeptical of how much of a “Christian” he is. Not to question his personal faith, but AFAICT he’s not aligned with any specific denomination or tradition; read hundreds of his posts and never recall him mentioning going to church, or something his pastor/preist said or anything like that. It seems like he’s doing the cafeteria thing where he adopts the parts that appeal to him (e.g. the worldview and moral teachings) and ditches the parts that challenge him (e.g. the call to be part of a community of believers, the idea of putting oneself under any kind… Read more »

It’s never a good idea to discuss another man’s religion. People believe all sorts of wacky things, none of which can be validated. It’s best to just skip past appeals to religious authority, unless you are living in a Muslim country.

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1 year ago

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Toddy Cat

I’ve gotta say, given what a lot of “Christian Religious Leader” are advocating these days, I can’t really fault Vos for not wanting to be under their authority. Lots of wolves in shepard’s clothing out there right now. Also, Vox is Evangelical, which has a much more diffuse authority structure than Catholicism or Orthodoxy.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Church is optional in Christianity. Matthew 18:20 , Anywhere two or three of you are gathered in my name there shall I be, It would take him and his wife Spacebunny to fill the requirement And as for authority? Which one? The Deus Volt crowd in general sees most of the churches as corrupt or outright Satanic and given my experiences, they aren’t wrong Churchianity is a big problem. Besides if you believe Gallup just over 1/3 of Christians attend church regularly This is not something new through, Americans historically weren’t big in regular Church That said I agree with… Read more »

Truth is its no more possible to revive Christendom than the old Roman Religio Civicum Currently, the Left singlehandedly polices academia for orthodoxy and plays a major role in driving tax funding for research. When the Left falls, everything they built falls with them. If the secular Right can’t make convincing arguments against intelligent design, atheism will be dead in three generations. Just as Civil-Rights-loving cuckservatives always forget that Civil Rights were only made possible by the Left, the secular Right always forgets that the academics who were using basic SJW tactics (long before SJWs were even a thing) to… Read more »

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

You do realize the New Testament could be historically accurate (and FWIW I’m agnostic leaning yes on the question) but the core premises of Christianity simply inaccurate for a passel of reasons Also atheism has doubled in numbers of late Its a silly thing to believe as compared to agnosticism but it is what it is, My guess is folk religions are the way of the future in the West , no orthodoxy, no churches , just traditions and beliefs handed down. There will be loads of them, remains of the New Age, Wicca, Asatru and other Heathenry , vaguely… Read more »

You do realize the New Testament could be historically accurate but the core premises of Christianity simply inaccurate for a passel of reasons Not the core premises, no. If the NT is historically accurate, Jesus rose from the dead. There will be loads of them, remains of the New Age, Wicca, Asatru and other Heathenry , vaguely Christian things, Sacral Nature, Spiritualism and afterlife teaching, vague animism you name it, This is not harmful to people in any way. Its the norm before Christianity and its what we’ll revert too. That is what we’re seeing happen right now. The question… Read more »

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Back from the dead is meaningless .People come back from clinic death all the time in hospitals. If you want to suggest people from 32 C.E or thereabouts knew more about medicine than we do and even had a snowballs chance in a furnace of knowing whether someone was dead or only mostly dead when we have trouble doing that in 2018, you are being absurd Also myths are full of people and gods coming back to life . The Norse Baldr will eventually and its Coyote’s stock in trade . Its not even that special on a mythical basis.… Read more »

However you play, you had better have a plan for a West without Christianity The plan is nationalism for everyone, Christian or not. Politics have nothing in principle to do with Christianity; you don’t need the Bible to tell you that feminism, globalism, and socialism must be destroyed. However, it is worth pointing out that when you change the religion you change the civilization. Roman and Greek civilization came to an end and were replaced by Western Civilization when their religions were replaced with Christianity. Similarly, post-Christian Europe will be post-Western Europe. people come back from clinic death all the… Read more »

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

I agree with your first point 100% Atheism has been around for thousands of years though and will be for thousands more, Its never been popular outside the people who seem to biologically lack the religious sense before so I tend to agree though people will get more religious As far as Paganism , using the broadest description here, everything that is not Abrahamic or Eastern , eh it predates Christianity by I don’t know 30 millennium or more and will last long after Christianity is taken as seriously as Mithraism Now the current “West” won’t be the same without… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Tully

wow, you sure are smart Sam. How you’re able to discern people’s motives without having to do all the drudgery of having to read or listen to any reasons they’ve given is truly impressive. Well done sir!

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1 year ago

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Sam

I didn’t claim to know his motives; I described his actions as I saw them, and speculated on the underpinnings. I’ve worked professionally with gifted but insecure kids, and Vox’s rhetoric and behavior reminds me of one of them. YMMV,

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

There are only about 3 -4 motives for all human behavior (maybe only 2 true motives). So it isn’t hard to discern which ones are at play, with Vox or anyone else.

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1 year ago

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MBlanc46

VD was going on about epistemology in a very dogmatic way the other day. That’s one of the few things that I have a reasonably good knowledge of, and it was pretty clear that he was in over his head.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

He’s in over his head as soon as he moves away from talking about comic books.

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1 year ago

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LineInTheSand

How do you know that you “have a reasonably good knowledge” of epistemology?

I’ve read Vox for years. He used to have something to say, and he said it well. But it is becoming increasingly clear that he is not fit to speak for the dissident right or even the alt-right anymore. He’s melting down on Peterson because Peterson is actually one of the last remaining classical liberals – and he can reach and connect with both sides of the political spectrum with some success while Vox cannot. Think of Peterson more accurately as ‘dissident left’. And – Peterson’s doing that right in the very heart of the proggie universe, where Vox is… Read more »

You are going to have to learn to speak publicly, in front of large crowds, Z, if you don’t already. Could you handle hecklers and think on your feet in such situations? Do you have skeletons in the closet that need to be dealt with, or ones that could be fabricated and left there? Unless you want to end up like Cerno and Milo… unfortunately, these may be things you need to think about. I’ve done a fair bit of public speaking. I’m quick on my feet so it comes naturally. That seems to be the key to effective public… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Tully

Another mind reader. Amazing how you too know Vox’s motives without actually reading what he says. No wonder he banned you.

As I said, I read him for years, and still do. But – look at what you see for yourself. The entire left wing of the political spectrum thinks he’s an idiot. Half of the Alt and Dissident Right does too. He will expound on how to argue and debate too, and how to use dialectic and rhetoric. Right. When 75% of the people he reaches think he’s an idiot. Jordan Peterson – a liberal – is taken far more seriously by far more people than Vox is. All this is a matter of public record – if I am… Read more »

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1 year ago

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MBlanc46

“Dissident Left”. Good description of Peterson. And Pinker.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

You are right about Peterson’s role Peterson is as Vox Day noted is basically for broken people (proggies as you put it) not the rest of us This purple pilling is good work in my book but I hope people don’t stop there. They need the full Red Pill You also reiterated one of Vox’s points namely that Peterson is a Leftist and while this movement won’t shoot right, the Left is a legitimate rhetorical target and as such Peterson is. Vox Day is a bit deeper than you think though. He’s not some Internet schlub but has along and… Read more »

Hmmmmmm. Vox can and does punch right, and he’s done it after critiquing others for doing it. He’s attacked Gab, Z, and others so I don’t feel too bad about agreeing with the majority that thinks the man is an unlikable dolt. One thing we have to learn is that popularity counts. The man has started so many fights with so many good people (like Sarah Hoyt, for example) – that he’s become a liability. If you watch him carefully as I do – you will notice he lies, he doubles down, and he projects. When he gets caught at… Read more »

“Jordan had his time in the spotlight over the past year, but his star is now starting to fade.” That implies that he’s simply celebrity. It’s more like he’s reached a current saturation point. He lays it on a bit rich so I hope he’ll keep a lower profile. I hope and think he’ll remain on the scene as a public intellectual. I never put him on a pedestal as he’s a mainstreamer, but realize he’s a general good for society. Vox Day is shooting fish in a barrel because he needs material and attention. Of course Jordan isn’t ideologically… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Jimmy

Gavin McInnes…seriously?

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1 year ago

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Altitude Zero

Why rate Taylor so low? There wouldn’t even be an Alt-Right without older guys like Taylor and Derbyshire

Indeed. He is fully independent and has a large network of successful, independent white male Christian supporters. He always tells the truth. He is producing real products for a real market. And, as the Hugo Awards demonstrate, he can throw a significant amount of weight around.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

hahahaha tell us how his balls taste, while you are at it.

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1 year ago

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joey junger

I read some Vox Day articles in the past, and I appreciate his SJW primer, but people who talk about their IQ constantly don’t seem to be putting their IQ to good use. I think almost all mainstream public intellectuals are “midwits,” as I think Vox Day’s coinage has it. Sargon also has that “kind of smart but a douche-bag” vibe.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

Comic books, video games, japanese pop, fantasy novels. These are not the pursuits of a high level mind. He reminds me (strongly) Wyle E Coyote.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

I’m keeping my finger off the down vote button, a man is entitled to his opinion Media is one the main weapons the Left uses and this vinegar drinking prude we are above that kind of fun attitude is what go the Right’s ass righteously kicked. No one wants to be around someone who answer to “What kind of fun do you like?” is “I don’t know but not that one.” The age for every man wants to be Joe Friday is long over and good riddance, While 40 is not the new 20, 52 is also not near death… Read more »

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1 year ago

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james wilson

Make a list of the great thinkers, which time has proven out. None were boastful. Great intelligence and humility are not natural allies, but it is the combination of those qualities that produces insight. That is why insight is so rare.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Nah. That only applies to being a moral person. Virtue signaling ought to be a capital offense, An example, Einstein was a total dog, no sexual loyalty, the morality of a rabbit . He was still brilliant and he wasn’t that humble In most cultures bragging is normal as they say in Texas , it ain’t bragging if you can do it. Assuming accomplished people should behave plainly, dress plainly and never show off a bit is Puritan horse dung and in this barbaric age, it can go. It will go, its strictly an Anglo thing anyway. Now that streak… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Brigadon

He got sick of all the white knighting for a con artist.

I did too.

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1 year ago

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Jimmy

I find vox exhausting too. Anytime I see dissident righters attacking each other I get exasperated at the waste of time and fundamental pettiness. Frankly I don’t care what these guys think of each other or what personal disagreements they may have. I didn’t start reading these blogs as a substitute for gossip mags: I’m here for ideas. Considering Jordan Peterson is not going to listen to race realists anyway and is unprepared to address the elephant in the room I don’t really see much point addressing him myself. He’s going to do his thing, we will do ours…like all… Read more »

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1 year ago

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AlanBreck

After Anglin, the stupid Gab spat, and this it’s clear he starts them for the clicks.

Short term its effective, long term the ones who aren’t cultists leave.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Anglin is a Nazi . While they can be tolerated as they are pro White the are not on our side. They lack message discipline and self control and are legitimate rhetoric targets

Richard Spencer is a fucking globalist who loves the EU who just happens to be pro White .

Pro Tip. letting foreigners into your country is bad been when they are of your race

Democratic Workers and Socialism are not Right Wing at things period.

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1 year ago

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james wilson

“He’s going to do his thing, we will do ours” works well for me. I’ve enjoyed and admired Peterson’s efforts very much, but. I saw him appear on a Bill Maher Star Court of five amigos, and lost much of my respect for him. He wants, needs, these metastasized faux intellectual brains to include him. He defends the opposition to Prog inc, as being not entirely stupid.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

My guess is VD doesn’t have a college education, and that is the source of his unbounded insecurity. He is very sure of himself, but i have seen 0 evidence that he is actually above average intelligence. Ok, maybe 105.

And you will never find a comment on his blog, that rises above the level of a 7th grader.

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1 year ago

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Burner Prime

@Karl, true. Anyone who challenges him on merit gets perma-banned. The rest of the sycophantic meatheads get to stay

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1 year ago

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Saml Adams

There are very few people that can be honest with themselves about their limitations. Hence getting way over their skis and ending up as a yard sale. All the guys I worked for in business that got “fuck you money” far preferred a memo or a phone call for anything delicate. Stayed off email conversations that were anything but “just the facts”.

On the other hand if you ever want to monetize your minor celebrity, happy to buy the steak and whiskey dinner of your choice.

It’s nice when people go out of their way to tell me they appreciate the effort. It means a lot, but I’ve never had a lust for fame. It seems like an odd thing to lust after. Money and sex make sense. Status in your peer group or industry makes sense. Fame just seems a bit pointless to me, but I’ve never been famous. Maybe it is great and I don’t know what I’m missing. Still, it’s easier to just do what I’m doing. I fill a niche and that’s important.

The thing about the lust for fame is what an effeminate trait it is. Milo obviously has his reasons for acting effeminately, but I think that’s the reason several of the alt-right/lite attention seekers come off as being a little… strange. There’s just something off-putting about a man who constantly seeks attention. Cerno creeps me out that way, too. I was never a close follower of Vox’s stuff. The last time I got on Gab I saw he and Space Bunny were in some kind of stupid spat with some other attention whore who had insulted SB’s honor or something… Read more »

Why, he really is of no consequence. Odd bird, remember his mohawk look byline at World net daily. Even then we were reminded of his Mensa membership.
Doing well on an IQ test as a major accomplishment.

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1 year ago

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Brigadon

Oh, the soyboy would rather queue up behind a nevertrumper?

It must really kill you to see your gods develop feet of clay.

You cannot bring him down by destroying his rep. He doesn’t have much of a rep to destroy, outside of his publishing…

And Frankly, his writers are extremely good. Rod Walker, especially, is one of my new favorite writers. What are you going to do, claim he’s diddling kiddies or something?

Not me. Vox is a dick, but he’s still doing a hell of a lot better job than the alternatives.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

I’m wont aim my rhetorical guns Right and you shouldn’t either. Even though Vox Day is abrasive, he’s on our side till the bitter rend which is good enough for me. Vox is also one of the only people in the .Alt Right with any grasp of the need for ideology . His 16 points while not brilliant are at least a coherent set of ideas and that’s more than nearly anyone else has., Despite his personality he’s more of asset for the .Alt Right than .alt Lite Jordan Peterson is. JP is useful but he’s training wheels. Anyway the… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Diavolobello

Jordan is a gateway drug for normies. We need more of those.

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1 year ago

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LineInTheSand

Do you know of anyone who has come to dissident right politics via Jordan? I’m afraid he’s more of a Ben Shapiro-like barrier than a gateway. Although i will always acknowledge the guts it takes for an establishment guy in Canada to refuse to use the designated pronouns for the sexually deranged. He is risking fines and jail, I think.

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

Yes we do .

And LineinTheSand that is a good question,. Its also not a coincidence that Shapiro and Jordan are now bunky buddies in the media

They are trying to save this rotten system, understandable as they are both Nomenklatura , this system has to go and can’t be saved.

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1 year ago

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Brigadon

Nonsense, you have to be firmly far right and a bit of a masochist to listen to his long-winded, rambling, stammering, and often nearly incoherent diatribes.

No, he’s not a gateway for normies, he’s simply a reinforcer for lefties trying to pretend they are right wing.

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1 year ago

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Tully

im sure Vox is quaking in fear at the very thought of being taken down by a loser like you.

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1 year ago

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joey junger

I think it’s the curse of the VSP (“Very Serious Person”) that would cause someone to regard an alt-right or fringe person as less stable than someone close to the centers of power. That stamp-of-approval/imprimatur from the Cathedral is the only thing that makes Bibi Netanyahu with his charts and curtains seem less crazy than Glenn Beck with his chalkboard. Is a Nick Fuentes or a Richard Spencer (or hell, even a Milo) really anywhere near as crazy as a “moderate” center-right or center-left person invested in the invade the world/invite the world policy? Nancy Pelosi has a look on… Read more »

A few points. 1) Z: “Fuentes has a creepy maturity to him that has gained him a lot of attention.” Using the word “creepy” and “attention” was a sharp blow, but deserved. Your comments on him remind me of the lion who bites his annoying cub a bit too hard, just to let him know he’s out of line. And that he’d better get back IN line. Strong signal you put out. I hope he takes heed. 2) Z on Milo: “The desire to see himself on TV and internet had him doing increasingly nutty things to get attention.” Yes.… Read more »

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1 year ago

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A.B. Prosper

re: Milo Our host as usual is spot on.; Thing is like Peterson he’s not .Alt Right but .Alt Lite , turning wheels for Right leaning GBLT types and a voice that allows them to realize that the current Right doesn’t really hate them any more and the society they’d build would be safer for them with the worse case scenario, they get back into the closet with the worst case scenario on the Left being horrible death by ISIS In any case since Milo is you know gay and seems kind of a femme if that term isn’t declasse… Read more »

I’m fond of pointing out that the gay part is just the part of the iceberg we see. There is often a much larger body of mental illness under the waterline. That’s not the case with all gays, but usually the flamboyant ones.

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1 year ago

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Altitude Zero

Right, Eisenhower didn’t purge the State Department and Defense Department of homosexuals due to “homophobia,” he knew that gays were, and are, much more likely to be neurotic and have more mental problems (for whatever reason) than are straights. Also, in the context of the 1950’s, they were also much more blackmailable, and the KGB had a long history of doing such things. Milo has a lot of guts, and I wish him well, but he’s obviously not all that tightly wrapped.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

Also prone to traitorous actions.

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1 year ago

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Jimmy

My first exposure to this Fuentes fellow…reading his gab for even five minutes was exhausting.

His live act is very good, too good actually. A 19-year old should not talk like that, but otherwise he is very good for our time in that role. Let’s see if he stays in that lane over the next five years.

When you start your interviews for this site, you should include him. (nudge, nudge)

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1 year ago

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sirlancelot

** That’s why more than a few wackos ” have streaked across the alt-right sky ” over the last couple of years **

My favorite line. 🙂

Always dismayed about the dissension amongst the conservative , right wing, alt-right, etc.

The left embraces all their weirdos and makes no apologies. Like the crazy uncle at the family picnic that nobody pays attention to and pretends nothing’s wrong. White’s always fracture along the lines of who’s a gun nut, a religious nut, a racist etc.

Find competent people to represent the right and stop the petty in fighting.

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1 year ago

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Karl McHungus

Man is a social animal. We watch the herd for clues. It’s the rare person that can go through life, following their own path.

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1 year ago

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Anonymous White Male

VD is a hustler. In both the good and bad definitions of the word. Severian said once that Vox is a troll, first and foremost. I didn’t understand that at the time, but watching him try to pick fights with people makes you realize that he’s in it for the click count and the internet name recognition. Hey, any publicity is good publicity in the age of the 15 minute fame, right? He promotes his brand, which is a source of income for him. If you’re going to live in Venice, you’re going to need mucho shekels. He has his… Read more »

I also said he’s a truly *excellent* troll. I’ve learned a lot about building a personal brand watching him work (my interest in personal brand-building is strictly academic, for the record). As I understand his beef with Jordan Peterson (and my interest in this is just a tick or two above absolute zero), he thinks Peterson is bought-and-paid-for opposition — a kind of YouTube version of David Brooks’s gig at the New York Times. Whether or not that’s true (either his belief or my analysis of his beliefs), beefing with Peterson undoubtedly drives traffic his way… which has to help.… Read more »

Cerno does the same thing. He targets people with an audience and then trolls them, hoping their audience will notice him. The e-celeb also uses the front runner act. They see a parade, rush to the front and declare themselves the parade leader. Cerno was on the male feminist/sexual ambivalent thing. Then he was PUS. Then alt-lite and MAGA. Then he was going to be Alex Jones and then it was Tony Robbins. It works, as Cerno is well known, despite no one knowing why he is well known. That’s why I think the in-fighting we see on the alt-right… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Gordo

Cernovitch is a gadfly, albeit entertaining though in an occasionally jarring way.

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1 year ago

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Anonymous White Male

You also said Vox was fighting “the good fight” and was essentially on our side.

So I did. He’s pro-Western Civ, which means he’s on the side of the angels. It’s quite possible to be both a) on the right side and b) so annoying to your own side that it’s almost not worth it… and he skates right up to that line (and, indeed, seems to enjoy it – he trolls his own followers as often as he does the Left).

hahaha I can’t help hearing you say “christians” as “kwistens” with a big ole homo lisp!

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1 year ago

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Altitude Zero

I agree that Vox can be irritating at times (well, OK, a lot of times) but he is actually one of the few people in our thing who has actually tried to set up alternative Alt-Right institutions, along with Andrew Torba (PBUH). Castalia House, Infogalactic, whatever it is that he calls his comic-book thing; these are real things that actually have potential, and they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for Vox. So while I wish that he would tone down the “Wyl E. Coyote – Super Genius!” act a bit, and stop attaching people who are on our side,… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Thorsted

” If you’re going to live in Venice”- Vox doesn’t live in Venice but in Lombardi region according to himself. I think he lives close to Bergamo that is also close to Milan. There is very good flight connection to the rest of the world and fast train connections to the rest of Italy and Europe. The region Venice is in is more closed. They speak another local language -Friulian/venician that can not be understood by Italians. Separatism has been strong in that region for the same reason. My italian family have lived in both regions and my father can… Read more »

I just found out from a commenter that our tiny little group blog with 9 readers has been blocked as a “hate site” by US Cyber Command (you, Zman, apparently only a “personal blog”). I’ll keep you posted on whether or not this success goes to my head – you’ve got 65 to the nth power more readers than we do, but only we are US government certified haters.

I’m blocked at most government offices. What’s happening is the firewall makers are starting to maintain banned lists of sites. That means your company does not ban a site. The service they rely upon for content filtering does it.

They learned all this when helping China set up its internet infrastructure.

Damn it! I thought I’d one-upped you! I am just insanely jealous with rage and jealousy now. I must now post a whole bunch of anti-Z Man screeds, and sic our nine readers on you!! (Since apparently that’s what we do in Our Thing now). (n.b. ot casual readers: that’s a joke — we’re all huge Z Man fans, and since “a US Cyber Command-certified hater” isn’t the unique credential I thought it was, I’m going back to my old motto: pas d’ennemis a droit.).

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1 year ago

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A_dude

I actually think this might be Cloudflare. I think it was funded by the NSA and the US Gov like Google and Facebook. Cloudflare is being used to remove anonymity and privacy from the Internet … try using Tor to browse around and remain anonymous … and you’ll find that they have already made much of the internet useless, blocked with Captcas that you cannot get past.. US Gov: if you want to guard your privacy … we will make sure you can do nothing. The internet has a new Evil (not just google) … everyone should hate Cloudflare …… Read more »

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1 year ago

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Jimmy

I like your blog.

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1 year ago

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Dutch

The clue to the whole thing is how much a person injects himself into the conversation at hand. If the conversation stays on the subject, then the speaker is probably mostly a normal person. When the conversation constantly circles back to being all about the speaker, then the speaker probably has got some real issues in there. Trump suddenly jumps over that line frequently, usually in the middle of an otherwise expository sentence, which is part of what can make him so uncomfortable. Of course, he’s nothing compared to Barack or Hillary, the attention whores of the century. Rush on… Read more »

I’ll talk about myself when it adds color to a story or furthers some other point. Declaring yourself an authority and then citing yourself is boorish. Greg Cochran is the smartest person on the internet, yet he never appeals to himself as an authority, even when he is the authority.

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1 year ago

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Jimmy

I’ve always been of the “show don’t tell” school of demonstrating personal worth and value and wish more people were the same.

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1 year ago

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Drake

The Ted Baxter link was good for a laugh. More than I can say for any recent sitcom.

Since your internet activity is now part of your permanent record, all those youthful mistakes will later be used against you as an adult.

Skin in the game.

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1 year ago

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FellowDissident

Vox Day behaves as one may expect given his father’s trajectory and the likely parenting job delivered by such an accomplished yet odd duck. He’s producing tools for the dissident right that can be quite useful. I can learn from VD and I tune in although I do find certain traits annoying, particularly the narcissism. I have speculated whether VD lives there in Italy because Pa VD left behind a hidden fund in Switzerland that requires in person retrieval of funds withdrawals and the US might seize attempted wire transfers. Of course there are other reasons for living in Italy… Read more »

Very interesting stuff, and clarifies a lot about Vox.
His dad was a very smart developer, engineer and businessman who created several successful, multimillion dollar companies before going completely off the rails and eventually ending up in Federal prison as a “tax protester” who had ordered extra judicial arrests and assassinations with a cadre of fundamentalist followers.
Goes a long way in explaining why Vox doesn’t, or can’t, live in the U.S.

Zman, the fringe is slowly becoming the mainstream. Youtube is slowly morphing into what can only be described as a “network channel”. Genres of film and literature that are floundering in the mainstream are thriving on the net, and the work is mostly being done for free by amateurs producing near professional quality work. There is something profound going on, but it’s hard to map out it’s width and breadth.

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1 year ago

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Mike@Mike.Mike

I’m late to this party, but in support of Z’s observation about minor celebrity, My brother in law makes regular appearances on a long running “reality” TV show. Since he has been appearing on this show he thinks he is the second coming of Michael Jordan. His social media handles go by “thereal’firstnamelastname'” as if he is an A-lister and there are people out there looking to profit from impersonating him. It’s pretty obscene how important the thinks he is while he’s always been kind of a douche, since then he is insufferable.

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1 year ago

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Dutch

Sooner or later comes the moment when his response to a situation or affront will be “don’t you know who I am?” And they won’t know who he is.

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1 year ago

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Burner Prime

—” People who talk about their IQ on social media tend to be mentally unstable.”

Theodore are you listening?

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1 year ago

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Joseph

Your repetitive use of “this thing” is irritating. It brings to mind the mafia’s name for themselves in Sicilian, “our thing” or Cosa Nostra”. You’ve already explained that you don’t like the terms “alt-right” and “white nationalist”, I believe you settled on “dissident right”, which is almost adequate, and certainly far preferable to “this thing”. To me “dissadent right” is a big tent. It includes everyone from Milo to Spencer, but it’s increasingly held on to by people anxious to maintain some level of mainstream acceptability. Jordan Peterson is the poster child for the dissident right. You write from a… Read more »

Hey Joe, when the tab dissident right is extinguished, as it will be someday, what are we going to call this thing? And yes, our movement is mainstream acceptable just not currently mainstream admissible. Creeps like Milo are useful but are not part of our thing and the freakshow never will be acceptable to us as a part of our thing. I set your big tent afire.